beooks



(No Model.) I

T. WBNK & E. J. BROOKS.

LEAD AND 'WIRBISEAL.

No. 340,394. Patented Apr. 20, 1886.

N. PETERS, Hols-Lithographer. Wnshmglcn. 0.0.

UNTTEE STATES PATENT EErcE.

THEODORE \VENK, OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK, AND EDYVARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO E. J. BROOKS & (30., OF

NEW YORK, N. Y.

LEAD-AND-WI RE SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,394, dated April 20, 1886.

Application tiled February 13. 1886.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THEODORE WENK and EDWARD J. BRooKs,-citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Brooklyn, in

the State of New York, and at East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lead-and- Wire Seals, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to that class of seals for securing the doors of railway freight-cars and for like uses, which are fastened by compressing a seal-disk of lead upon the ends of a flexible shackle of wire,v after passing IS the shackle through a pair of staples, or other wise applying it.

The present invention consists, first, in a shackle of single wire provided at or near one or each extremity with a solid circumferential 2o anchoring-enlargementintegral therewith and of conical shape, with the base of the cone opposed to withdrawal, whereby the insertion of the shackle ends and the compression of the lead around them are facilitated, and etfective annular withdrawal resisting-shoulders are formed; and, further, in a seal-disk having a pocket or cell in an otherwise solid eccentric body portion to receive the threading end or each threading end of the shackle, the entrance 0 to said cell being at theupper edge of thedisk, and a peripheral groove or recess at the bot tom and sides of the disk, whereby access to said cell in threading the seal is facilitated and the perfect solidification of the lead around 5 and above the anchoring devices at the pressing operation is insured, while at the same time a large-faced and easily-com pressed sealdisk is formed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this speci- 0 fication as part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings is an elevation of the shackle of our seal unbent or straight. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the completed seal straight, with the shackle partly in section.

5 Fig. 2* is an'edge view of the disk end. Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional face views of the seal as applied to a pair of car-door staples, with appended cross-sections, respectively showing the same as it appears before and after it is Serial No. 191,851. (No model.)

pressed. Figs. 5 and Gare sectionalface views of seals ready for the press, illustrating modifications; and Fig. 7 is an elevation of another seal straight, illustrating an additional modification.

Likeletters of reference indicate correspond- 5 5 ing parts in the several figures.

In the preferred embodiment of our joint invention, illustrated by Figs. 1 to 4, inclu- I sive, our seal is composed of a flexible metallic shackle, A, of iron, copper, or other suitable wire, and a recessed seal-disk, B, of lead or equivalent soft metal. The shackle A has at or near each extremity a solid circumferential anchoring-enlargement, a, integral with the wire, projecting beyond its periphery and 6 formed ofa conical shape, an annular shoulder being formed by its large end, while it tapers therefrom toward the adjacent extremity of the wire, for purposes hereinbeforc set forth. One end of the shackle A,with its said anchoring-enlargement,is permanently united with the disk Bby casting the latter thereon, as represented by Figs. 2, 2, and 3. This cast-in end, or that portion of it within the disk, lies within-an eccentric body portion, I), 5 of the disk B, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. For the reception of the other end of the shackle A, a pocket or cell, c, is formed within said body portion b, having its entrance conveniently exposed at the upper edge of the disk; 8

otherwise this body portion of the disk is solid, as aforesaid. Beyond it the sides and bottom of the disk are extended, being lightened by a deep peripheral groove or recess, 1'. (Best seen in Figs. 2 and 3.) Preferably said recess 7* does not communicate at allwith said cell c, and consequently after the seal is pressed access to-the anchoring device cannot be had by reopening said recess; but apart from this, by the location of the recess as afore- 0 said we insure such solidification of the said body portion of the disk around and above the anchoring device at the pressing operation as to preclude withdrawal of the threaded end, and there can be no access to it laterally, nor so as to refasten the wire after breaking it. In the modification illustrated by Fig. 5'the shackle A is not cast in, and the seal-disk B has a pair of cells, 0 c, to receive both shackle ends with their anchoring-enlarge ments a, as shown in the figure, preparatory to the pressing operation.

In the modification illustrated by Fig. 6 the shackle A is provided with detector-enlargements d above its anchoring-enlargements a,to indicate the character of the wire to seal inspectors. This provision may obviously be used in cast-in seals, as well as in the other kind represented by the disk 13 in the figure, and maybe confined to the threaded end of the shackle, and the detector-enlargements may be of any shape with equal eflect.

In the modification illustrated by Fig. 7 the cast-in end of the shackle A is provided with anchoririg-indentations 1', according to Mr.

' Brookss invention, patented June 27, 1876,

illustrating the employment of any known anchoring device on the cast-in end of the shackle. The disk B may be identical with 7 said disk 13.

In either form of the seal proportions and immaterial details of shape may be varied withoutdcparturefromourinvention. Known styles of soft-metal seal-disks may be used in connection with our shackle-wire without wholly losing the advantages of the latter, and our said seal-disk may be used with its distinctive advantages in greater or less degree, in connection with other styles of shackles; but in combination with each other, asshown, our said shackle and disk are believed to produce their said advantages mostfully.

The seal, in either form, goes to the market with its shackle straight, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, 2", and 7.- It is applied in customary manner by passing the shackle through a pair of car-door staples, O, for example. The shackle is then bent, and its free end or ends are threaded or inserted into the disk, as shown in Figs. 3, 5,and 6. In this operation the conical shape of the anchoring-enlargenients a on the free or threading ends of the shackle, and the exposure of the entrances to the cells 0 at the upper edge of the seal-disk, facilitate threading, while the closed bottoms of the cells stop said enlargements within the sealdisk in proper position. A scalpress is now applied to the disk, and the seal is pressed, as illustrated by Fig. 4. In this operation the sharp peripheral edges of the conical anchoring-enlargements a cut the lead, so as to facilitate its solidification around and above them, and such solidification is insured by the relative location of the body portion b and peripheral recess 1*, as aforesaid, while subsequeut to the pressing or fastening operation said anchoring-enlargements resist and prevent withdrawal of either shackle end provided therewith by surrounding the shackle end with an .eifective annular shoulder, as best seen in said Fig. 4.

Having thus described our said improvement in lead-and-wire seals, we claim as our joint invention and desire to patent under this specification 1. A shackle-wire having one .or each end provided with a solid circumferential anchoring-enlargernent of conical shape, forming an annular withdrawal resisting-shoulder, and tapering therefrom toward the adjacent extremity of the wire, in combination with a compressible soft-metal seal-disk having an opening to adniitsaid anchoring'enlargement, substantially as herein specified.

2. In a lead-and-wire seal, a seal-disk having an eccentric body portion extending upward to the upper edge of the disk provided for the reception of one or each shackle end, with a cell, the entrance to which is exposed at the upper edge of said disk, said body portion being otherwise solid and constructed with a peripheral groove or recess in its extended bottom and lateral edges, substantially as herein specified.

E. S. INNET, GEO. F. MEIXNER. 

